Mark McGhee had stated that we would play our strongest team in this final fixture despite it having no bearing on either side’s league position. He almost delivered the promise, the exception being that Krysiak was given a chance in goal. Hutchison was back on the bench. In contrast, Kilmarnock had a much changed side on show.
Motherwell dominated the opening half hour. There wee long periods of possession, some nice passing but little threat on Bell’s goal. Krysiak looked on from afar and must have felt that that his appearance money would be easy pickings. The price was duly paid for our failure to press home the advantage when the tricky Taouil bore down on our right, drawing defenders to him. He passed to the unmarked Invincible on the other side of the box and his shot beat Krysiak.
We had a series of corners before the break and came close when Hammell’s delivery was met by Clarkson’s head at the near post.
Klimpl took a knock in the first minute of the second half and Bob Malcolm made his first appearance of the year. Clarkson was obstructed at the angle of the box and Hammell’s free kick resulted in a corner. McLean met O’Brien’s delivery and it seemed that his looping header was goal bound but it came off the bar.
Murphy replaced Sutton with half an hour remaining and the youngster gave us a direct runner o try to break through the Killie defence. Clarkson moved up front. His partner, Sheridan, might have done better with a headed effort from O’Brien’s corner.
We levelled the game in the 81st minute. Clarkson chased a rebounded effort to the East Stand touchline and managed to recover the ball from the clutches of a couple of defenders. He got to the bye line and provided McLean with the cut back which was duly swept into the net.
Motherwell started to chase the winner but we were undone by a back flick from Fernandez which enabled Taouil to let off a shot from a very tight angle. Krysiak was beaten by a defection and the Killie fans celebrated their winning end to the season.